


Godfather

by fourtypercent



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Sad Ending, Slice of Life, Tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 16:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourtypercent/pseuds/fourtypercent
Summary: When Noctis was a kid, his father got him a pet fish.





	Godfather

Godfather 

"It will teach you responsibility, Noctis," his father held him by his hand. King Regis had the whole pet store closed for his particular outing. 

Clarus fought with him when he came up with the idea.

"You really think your son is ready to look after a pet?" He crossed his arms. The Lucis Caelum family hardly possessed the knowledge on how to take care of themselves, let alone a defenseless animal. 

"Yes, my dear friend, I do. The boy needs a companion besides Ignis and Gladiolus."

With the argument settled, the two royals arrived in their most casual clothes. Regis held his son's smaller hand and walked into the warm store.

"How may we assist you?" a friendly employee asked. She smiled down at the shy prince. He was attempting to hide behind his father.

"Do you know what kind of pet you'd like, Noctis?" Regis asked. He and the employee looked down at him as he shook his head.

"Something low maintenance, then?" She crouched down to be eye to eye with the six year old prince, "What's you favourite animal?"

"Fish," he mumbled.

"Perfect, want to follow me and I'll show you to some?" she held out her hand. He let go of his father's pant leg and took hers. She stood up and gently guided him to the aquariums. 

She looked down and saw his face light up, the fish came in so many sizes, shapes and colours! He only ever seen this many fish on the television shows he watched with Ignis. 

Regis smiled from behind as Noctis ran towards the aquariums and hauled the employee with him. 

He looked in all the tanks. Some fish were small, blue and green with a red stripe. Others were small sharks. He saw the orange ones.

"Comet Goldfish." The employee said. She looked over at him and he smiled. 

"Dad!" He turned from the tank, ran back to the King, took his hand and brought him to the tank, "Look it!" 

"Is that the kind you like?" the King asked.

Noctis nodded as the employee grabbed a plastic bag, a small net and a rubber band, she asked Regis, "How many, Your Majesty?" 

"Ahh, they're not for me. They're for him." he answered with a smile. 

"How many, Your Highness?" she asked Noctis. 

"How many may I get, Dad?" Noctis looked up.

"You may get two."

The employee managed to scoop the two Nocttis pointed to and twisted the bag shut with the rubber band.

She taught Noctis about feeding, and how much food. She set them up with a tank with gravel and some ornaments, and lastly a good filter system. Noctis was anxious to learn, and got some reading material so Ignis could help him out.

They said their goodbyes and made it back to the Citadel. Noctis set the tank up and filled it with water and the new chemicals they bought. 

Ignis arrived as Noctis was standing on a stool and carefully put the still closed bag in the water (to "acclimatize" as the worker said or the fish could go into shock)

"What have you got there?" he asked.

"Fishies!" Noctis said. He looked in the tank and up at the floating bag. The two fish he chose were the same kind but different colours. 

"What are their names?" Ignis stood beside Noctis and looked up at the bag. The two fish swam without a care in the world. 

"Names?" Noctis asked.

"Yes. What will you call them. You simply can't call them Fish One and Fish Two."

"You're right."

Noctis thought as hard as he could. He never named something before, that's an adult thing to do. 

"The orange fishies will be 'Orangie' and the white fishie is 'Godfather'."

"Hello, Orangie and Godfather. Welcome home!" Ignis assisted with the moving of the fish from bag to tank. They sprinkled some flake food in the water and watched the fish gobble it up.

"How old do they get, Ignis?" Noctis asked.

"Not sure, but if you take care of them, I'd imagine they can get quite old."

~the next morning~

Noctis woke up early. He never wakes up this early, even for Saturday morning cartoons, his birthday or even Christmas! He ran to the tank that was set up in his room to see how his fish were. Orangie and Godfather were still swimming around, doing their fishy thing. 

Noctis gave them some food and then went to get some breakfast. 

"How are your fish?" his father asked him. 

He took a large bite of buttered and jam toast, than spoke with his mouth full, "Good!"

"Slow down or you'll choke," Regis lightly scolded as he took a sip of tea. 

When Noctis finished eating, he ran back to his room and met Ignis and Gladiolus along the way. 

"Let see those fish," Gladio said. 

The three gathered around the tank, and Noctis sprinkled some food in. The two fish gobbled it up. 

"Fish are boring. You should have gotten a turtle," Gladio said as he turned his back to he tank. 

"At least I don't have to walk it," Noctis and Ignis sat on the couch near the tank and watched the fish. 

"I guess," Glaio crossed his arms.

Every morning, he'd wake up, feed his fish and eat some breakfast. He'd go back to his room, watch the fish for a bit, get dressed and sprinkle just a bi more food in the tank for them. They always ate the food, what could I wrong?

~Three weeks later~ 

Noctis woke at his usual before he had fish time. He got dressed, and went to feed his fish. Only Godfather was swimming. 

"Orangie?" he asked.

He looked around the tank for the second fish. It wasn't floating. It wasn't hiding in the plastic greenery. He looked in the sunken pirate ship and saw his small orange face. He sprinkled some food in and Orangie never moved. 

A knock at the door startled him, it was his father, "Good morning, son. How are you and you fishes?"

"Dad? Something is wrong with Orangie."

Regis had a look in the tank, Noctis pointed to where Orangie was. 

With his eyes closed, Regis let out a sigh, "Orangie has passed away."

"What does that mean?" Noctis asked. 

"Orangie probably went in there and wanted somewhere safe to be and he died."

"Orangie is dead?" Noctis took a step away. His pet. His small orange little fishie is dead? How could this be?

"Did you feed them?" Regis asked. 

Noctis took another step back, "Yeah."

"How often did you feed them?" 

"Once just after I woke up, once after I had breakfast, and once after school."

Regis walked towards Noctis and hugged him, "You overfed Orangie. He ate too much."

"But, they always look hungry!" Noctis cried. It was a while since he cried openly. 

"We can get you a new one, if you like."

Noctis cried even more, "No!"

Regis stopped hugging Noctis and looked at his tear streaked face. Seeing his son cry like that broke his heart.

"No fishy can replace Orangie!" he cried. Fat tears fell down his face.

Regis spent the day with Noctis. He rarely ever did spend time with him, but his son needed him. Now, more than ever. 

They found a small box for Orangie. They laid his small body down on a bed of cotton balls and covered him with gauze. They went to the Citadel's private park and found a small hole. 

"Orangie was part of this family for just a short while, but he brought joy to all who knew him," King Regis said. 

Noctis placed the closed box in the hole, put a white flower on the box, as did his father, Clarus, Lord Scientia, Ignis, and Gladio. He put two down, his baby sister, Iris, was still too young. Slowly, Noctis buried the box. He stayed behind and said some final words.

~Nine Years Later~

"Prom, this is Godfather. Godfather, this is Prompto," Noctis introduced the human to his pet. It was always important to establish friendships, even if its human to fish.

"Hello, Little Dude!" Prompto looked in the tank. Noctis had upgraded his small starter tank to a grand thirty-six gallon tank throughout the years. Godfather was huge. 

He was still the same white fish he got as a kid, still fed it once to twice a day and still took care of the filter. He fed it treats like zucchini, peas, watermelon and shrimp occasionally. He often wondered if Godfather was lonely, or if being the only thing in the tank was a good thing. 

"He doesn't do tricks, he doesn't like to be touched. He knows all my secrets and he's always willing to listen to me," Noctis was proud of his fish. 

See? Fish aren't boring. Their family! 

~several months later~

Noctis saw he was running low on flake food, but he had a supply of frozen cooked shrimp in his freezer. He broke off a shrimp and ran it under water so he could break it up and feed his fish. He tossed the shrimp tail away and plopped the shrimp in the water. 

Done. Fish fed. 

He worked on his homework and than hing out with Prompto. 

"Dude, your fish isn't looking so good," Prompto looked over at the tank. 

"What?" Noctis looked in the tank. Godfather was on his side.

He had other comet goldfish in his tank and was now familiar with what he saw.

"No, no, no! No! Godfather!" he tapped the glass. He had hoped that the sound would shake his fish back to being upright and swimming normally. 

Godfather didn't move.

Finally, Godfather wasn't responding to being poked at with the net. He was gone. 

Noctis hugged Prompto and cried. He cried for what felt like forever. 

They found a box, and gently scooped him out of the tank. Noctis turned from Prompto and tried to be brave. 

"You said that your father got him for you. You should call him," Prompto took the fish in the box to the freezer. Keep it frozen so it won't smell.

"Yeah," Noctis sat on the couch, pulled his phone out and dialed his father. 

"Noctis, my boy! How are you?" Regis asked.

"Dad? Remember Godfather?" he tried not to sniffle. Prompto found a box of tissues, sat beside him and gave him a bro-hug.

"Yes, he okay?" the King asked.

"He… he just passed away."

His father was quiet.

"He was kinda old. But, he was the best fish," Noctis took a tissue and gave his dripping nose a wipe. 

"He was. I'm sorry, son. Let me know if theirs anything I can do." 

"I will. Thank you, Dad," he hung up.

"Let it out, Noct," Prompto gave him a full hug.

Noctis cried until he fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I just lost my pet fish, Godfather this morning. I'm totally torn. I've cried so much that now I have a headache. He was eight or nine years old, and if I could measure him, he would be over 20cm long from mouth to tail (not the tail fin) He was a beast, but he was my baby. He's currently in a box in my freezer.
> 
> This was hard to write. Some would say "it's just a fish" but that fish was my family. 
> 
> Love you Godfather. We will bury you this Sunday. 
> 
> https://kuronekosama.tumblr.com/post/186734642985/i-am-just-an-orange-little-guy-godfather-used-to yup that's him.


End file.
